Special Friends Day

“This morning I came in and I did my flash five job because I didn’t do it on the day I was supposed to. Then I gathered on the rug and we read “Fairytale News”. It was great and I liked it because it has a newspaper in it. It is a very fun book, you should get it (the author of this blog put that in because she knows “it goes all over the world”). There was a map inside. It was a page in the book. On the map was Little Bo Peep, Jack going to the three bears house and Jack’s mom doing the laundry with the cow sitting on the other side of the house. The newspaper said “Big Bad Wolf Arrested for Blowing the Two Little Pigs House Down”. After our story my grandma came for Special Friends Day. I did a job with Grandma, I drawed Grandma and she drawed me. Then I started to interview my grandma. At Todd Time we dribbled basketballs. It was kind of easy because the ball just has to go up and down. After Todd Time we read a book about the first Thanksgiving. I learned that there was a dog and another dog. The first Thanksgiving was for Indians and Pilgrims being thankful for each other. I am thankful for all the colors.” ~A.R
Friends in Room 5 are thankful for the following things…
“I am thankful for everything; my mom and my dad and my brother and my other brother and my friends and my grandma and my whole family and Lisa J.” ~N.S
“I am thankful for my friend Sam.” ~M.N.
“I am thankful for friends.” ~P.W
“I am thankful for thanksgiving.” ~J.M
“I am thankful for gods love.” ~M.E.
“I am thankful for health.” ~J.R
“I am thankful because I like my brothers.” ~H.C
“I am thankful for my mom and dad.” ~E.M.

Through the Eyes of J.R.

“Today at Morning Exploration I did marble chutes with Matthew. At Morning Meeting I listened to Lisa J. and I shared my camera. After Morning Meeting we went to Music and we sang songs about five little turkeys. After that we went to Art and we made pinch pots and I made the biggest one. At morning recess I played Mouse & Cat with Maya, Josh, Gavin and Julian. After that I had Readers’ Workshop. At Readers’ Workshop I did my weekend report and finished my have to jobs. For lunch I had Pick Up Stix then I played Cat & Mouse again. Then at Peaceful Time I did my blog job. Today I got to take all of the pictures with my camera and Jesse came over to help upload my pictures (there was a slight technical difficulty so his slideshow will hopefully be up and running soon). At Math Time we did a lot of have to jobs and I love have to jobs. At the Little Low table we drew things of six and practiced writing the number six. At the Red Splat table we flashed numbers with 5. At the Middle Little table we circled things that had the same amount as the number and crossed things out that didn’t match.” ~J.R

Pigs Picnics and Pinecone Turkeys

“Our morning question today was ‘Did your magic beanstalk grow? Yes or No.’ Mine kind of grew a tiny tiny sprout. During morning exploration I played with the sand and some whales and seals and dolphins and stuff. At morning job time I did my Fairytale Feedback about the Three Little Pigs. I liked it because it was fun. At Book Buddies my brother read me books. One was about knock knock jokes and another was a train book that I brought in. After recess we went to Spanish and I read books about snakes. I learned the words serpients, culebra and vibora. After Spanish I read ‘The Picnic’ with Jack and Lisa J. It was about a picnic and a mouse. After peaceful time we made pinecone turkeys for our Friendship Feast on Friday.” ~P.W.

Artist in Action!

To see an enlarged view please click on the image.

A Huffy Puffy Day in K!

During Espanol we read the book “10 Black Dots” and we didn’t get to finish our project. In Todd Time we got to play Dr. Dodge Ball and soccer. In Readers’ Workshop we read 'The 3 Little Pigs'. On the brown piece of paper we did (wrote about) differences and ‘sames’ of (the classic version of) 'The 3 Little Pigs' and 'The TRUE Story of The 3 Little Pigs' (from the perspective of the wolf). During Job Time we drew pictures of each part of the story for 'The 3 Little Pigs'. With Kristina (a UCSD student helper) we had a Huff and Puff experiment with tissue paper, a marble and a Lego. The tissue paper was the easiest for me to Huff and Puff. ~M.E.

Another Day in Kindergarten....

“Today I read a book called “Get In” with Andrea, Hadley and Matthew. It was good because everyone got in the pool and at the end the elephant wanted to come in but they said “No you cannot”. I did handwriting with Laura and it was a little different because usually I do it with Lisa J, but this time I did it with Laura. I did the letters W, X, Y, Z and the numbers 5 and 4. In Math we read Anno’s Counting book and searched for groups of 5 in the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9. We got to flash our numbers because 7 is 5 fingers and 2 fingers.” ~N.S.
Math in Kindergarten:
As a class we have just begun Unit 2 in Math Expressions. The focus on Unit 2 is on activities that show a 5-group and numbers 6 through 10. It is important to see and use 5-groups in the numbers 6 through 10 because it gives children a tremendous advantage as they move into addition and subtraction. The children will us the symbols + and = to show 5 + 1, 5 + 2, 5 +3, 5 +4, and 5 +5. Geometry and spatial concepts will continue to be woven into many of our math activities. The children will compare and contrast shapes and size through spatial, visual and kinesthetic experiences. We will be reading a variety of shape books and repeating patterns will be reintroduced. In Unit 2 the children will also be telling and enacting math stories about adding, subtracting, matching and finding partners for a number. These stories will come from things they have experienced.

A Day Through the Eyes of a Kindergartener...

“Today I put on my new police shoes. In Art with Carrie I drew a picture with lines and shapes and colors. In Music we picked our instruments and played them five times. At Job Time at the writing bean table (for weekend report) I wrote ‘I ordered my new fire shoes’. At the Red Splat table I wrote about how the giant (in Jack and the Beanstalk) felt, he was sad. I read 3 books with Lisa J. It made me happy because I can read.”

During our short 3 day week the children continued their study of fairytales. We compared and contrasted 3 versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, including one about Jack’s cousin Jenny and her cornstalk! Next week the children will begin discussing various fairytales from the other characters point of view. These discussions will get them ready to write their own versions of the classic fairytales. On Thursday, we had a wonderful field trip to the Cool Globes exhibit at Balboa Park. The children learned important messages about keeping our Earth clean and cool. Thank you to all of the drivers and volunteers that made this trip possible.
Next week please remember that we will be having our Kindergarten Friendship Feast on Friday, November 21st. Set up begins at 1:30 and the children will join at 2:00 in the auditorium The sign up sheet is posted outside of Room 5 and all families are encouraged to participate in this event.

What's New In Kindergarten

The children have officially begun their Fairytale unit of study. We have spent the last week discussing what we already know about Fairytales and what they wonder about Fairytales. We will be using this information as a guide throughout our study. As we read each Fairytale, the children will be responding with a Fairytale Feedback form on whether or not they enjoyed the story and why. As a class we will be recording information on each story such as setting, problem/solution, magic used, protagonist (good guys) & antagonists (bad guys), representation of the numbers 3 & 7 (frequently found in Fairytales) and various other traits. We will also be interpreting the stories from different perspectives and discussing whether or not the story would be different from the perspective of the Witch, the Big Bad Wolf or other characters.